Washington, 1 October - The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved the first operation of the Sustainable Employment Development Policy Program (SEDPP) which provides budget support for Kosovo.

This is the first budget support operation for the Government of Kosovo under World Bank procedures since its membership in the World Bank Group on June 29, 2009. The support is going directly to the budget of Kosovo to finance overall budget needs.

The World Bank program is co-financed by 10 international donors - Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Community (EC), Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, all of whom have agreed to provide budget support funds to Kosovo on a grant basis for 3 years.

Total disbursement for the first approved tranche will be $30.9 million. Of this amount US$13.5 million are a grant and US$6.3 million are a credit from the World Bank Group; and US$11.1 million are grants from other donors that were contributed to the trust fund.

The SEDPP will support the Government of Kosovo’s efforts in maintaining a stable macroeconomic framework while increasing the transparency, accountability, and management of public expenditures and laying the institutional and legislative foundations of Kosovo for sustainable employment and growth.